The field of this disclosure relates to an electrical connection between a cable and a terminal.
Cable terminal connections are commonly used to facilitate electrical connections between various electrical or electronic components and sub-components. The designs are myriad, and common features include a physical and electrically-conductive connection between a terminal and an electrically-conductive cable core. It is sometimes desirable to seal this electrically-conductive connection against outside contaminants such as dirt and moisture in order to maintain the integrity of the electrically-conductive connection.
Conductive cable cores and terminals are commonly made of conductive metal(s). Interest in weight savings and cost savings in various applications such as automotive electrical wiring applications have made aluminum based cables an attractive alternative to copper based cables. However, some wiring and electrical connectors may remain copper based. Thus, there may be a transition somewhere in the electrical circuit between an aluminum based portion of the circuit and a copper based portion of the circuit. Often this transition may occur at the terminal because the terminal may include copper (e.g., tin-plated copper) based for reasons of size and complexity of shape that can be more easily achieved with copper based materials over aluminum based materials. A crimp interface connection of metal cable core (e.g., aluminum) to a different metal terminal (e.g., copper) can produce galvanic corrosion at the interface of the metal of lower nobility if an electrolyte such as salt water is present.
Various materials and techniques have been proposed to protect from moisture at electric cable terminal connections. However, since even a small amount of exposed metal at the interface can result in significant galvanic corrosion in the presence of moisture, there continues to be a need for new approaches to providing robust terminal connections for electric wire and cable.